Wisconsin's Fight Against Labor Hurts Women More Than Men

I don't want to see a conspiracy where there isn't one, but as some politicians push to cut reproductive and economic rights for women, it's hard not to view other efforts that would disproportionately impact women through that same lens of attack.

When those statistics are viewed in conjunction with Walker's statements that Wisconsin union members who are police and firefighters -- professions that are still heavilymale-dominated -- would be exempt from his plan, it seems clear that efforts to cut union wages and benefits, as well as collective bargaining rights, would put women at the back of the economic line more so than men.

One Wisconsin teacher I know is ready to throw in the towel after 15 years. She's been committed to educating children and probably could have been making a whole heck of a lot more money in the private sector. Now, in light of events in Wisconsin, she feels betrayed and forgotten, and is tempted to walk away from a rewarding, but increasingly challenging, profession. That's not to say she isn't making a good living and maybe she's even making more money than plenty of non-union workers around the country. But if there's one dedicated teacher who's ready to put her teaching career on the shelf because she's feeling thrown under the bus, there are surely others.

As governors analyze their efforts to be fiscally responsible, it might be wise if they also take a long, hard look at the potential consequences of their actions, intended and otherwise. Because even if we take them at their word that they're just trying to do some fiscal belt-tightening, they may find their public school classrooms more crowded and ineffective, and their hospital emergency rooms overflowing, because the women who bear the brunt of their proposed union measures decide to take their skills elsewhere.

Our New Approach to Comments

In an effort to encourage the same level of civil dialogue among Politics Daily’s readers that we expect of our writers – a “civilogue,” to use the term coined by PD’s Jeffrey Weiss – we are requiring commenters to use their AOL or AIM screen names to submit a comment, and we are reading all comments before publishing them. Personal attacks (on writers, other readers, Nancy Pelosi, George W. Bush, or anyone at all) and comments that are not productive additions to the conversation will not be published, period, to make room for a discussion among those with ideas to kick around. Please read our Help and Feedback section for more info.

Add a Comment

Add a Comment*0 / 3000 Character Maximum Comment Moderation Enabled. Your comment will appear after it is cleared by an editor.

8

10 Comments

Filter by:

gaylefishkin

having studied to be a teacher in the 1950's I can tell you from experience that in those years teachers made $70 per week, and had very few benefits. I went to work in private industry becasue I could make $80 Most teachers in those days were women, and they stood in back of the line. For those of you who think teaching is easy and not dangerous try teaching in a 'ghetto' school. The union enabled woman for the first time to have decent pay and benefits that would sustain them in their old age. I hope you are all prepared to reenter the world of Charles Dickens - are there no poor houses?

Public sector workers were given benefits that the private sector did not enjoy.........shorter work day, earlier retirement, more time off, etc. But to now try to relate what used to be, with what is now taking place, is simple-minded. Not only have the public sector workers caught up with the rest of us, your pay, pensions, and benefits far exceed what the majority of American workers can expect. Time to call a halt to madness.

jobs will not come back until the government gets really smaller, taxes get really simpler and fairer and markets are free. ............ as long as there is a trillion dollar national debt, as long as The Fed is printing and diluting our dollar and manipulating stock prices, gold prices and interest rates, and as long as both parties in Congress are social engineering via the tax code, things will not...cannot improve....it's that simple!

So with this logic, more women have been living off the excessive largess of the tax payers for all this time? Shame on them. If you cry when your good pay is cut, why not say thank you for all the years that you have had such a cherry deal? Unfortunately that isn't how it works in America, the Land of The Entiltement Mentality. Give Me, Give Me, Give Me is the chant. I know we have so much opportunity and possiblity in American, but some just want it given to them. If the generations that got through the Depression and WW II could see us they must be so ashamed for raising such whiny, self-absorbed and entilted people. I must tell you, I am ashamed to know some of these people and for the life of me don't know what it is that drives this Give Me attitude.

"Labor"? School teachers are hardly labor; they are white-collar professionals. Wisconsin is attempting to adjust the balance between the compensation of public servants and the burden on the taxpayers who employ them. Collective bargaining for public workers is a privilege granted (unwisely, some say) by some states; it is not by any stretch a right.

As a woman, I resent the comments of Ms. Bamberger. She does not speak for me. I do not feel that women are being attacked in any way. Many states and municipalities in this country are going broke. The demands of public service employees play a large part in these financial problems. I do not believe that federal, state, county or municipal employees should have the right to strike or collectively bargain. They make good incomes and have good benefits. better than most private sector employees and I'm tired of listening to their complaints.

At the same token, the majority of these women have children. Are they willing to saddle their kids with paying the huge debt our government has run up? In addition, millions of women have graduated from high schools and colleges but cannot find work. If any of these teachers/administrators/nurses are fired, there will be plenty of other women willing to take up the slack.

do you have any proof that walker wants us to think women are the enemy? Don't you really think this whole thing is he/ republicans just want to cut spending because if we don't our debt will keep growing untill we can't get a handel on it and it will bankrupt the state. This has nothing to do with men vs. women, it's about doing the right thing and the right thing is hard, and some people don't want the pain that comes with the cuts.

I am a single mother and raised 2 children without the benefit of any unions. Scott Walker is not accusing anyone of being "the enemy". He's just trying to rein in the budget in Wisconsin before the state goes bankrupt. He was elected, as was the House and Senate of Wisconsin to stop the financial catastrophe and he's just doing the job he was elected to do. If there is an enemy in all this, it's the union hierarchy who do not care about their own members or the country. They are in a power grab and that's all they care about. If we want to look at a group of people who do not get paid what they deserve, lets look at our military and their families.